2D Wooden Map of France, Graphite

France in slate and grey

The same thirteen regions as our Multicolor map, cut as separate pieces, but in a cool palette: near-black, slate, a mid grey, with a few regions in cream and honey to keep it from going flat. Corsica sits apart to the lower right. Inside each region the départements are engraved with their names, and the towns between them.

It is the version for a room that already has warm wood in it, or for cold-toned walls where the warm map would fight the colour. Against navy, dark green or white it holds its own; against oak furniture it does not compete.

A landmark on nearly every region

The same small wooden figures as on the Multicolor map: Mont-Saint-Michel on Normandie, the Eiffel Tower on Paris, the cathedral and a champagne bottle on Grand Est, Château de Chambord on Centre-Val de Loire, a sailing ship off Bretagne, a wedge of cheese on Pays de la Loire, a bottle on Nouvelle-Aquitaine, grapes on Bourgogne, the Puy de Dôme on Auvergne, a castle on Occitanie, a yacht on Provence. On the dark regions they read as silhouettes; on the pale ones as drawings.

Engraving on a mixed ground

The lettering burns dark, so on the cream and honey regions it is crisp from across a room and on the slate ones it asks you to come closer. Reading this map is a game of near and far, and the pale regions are where a visitor starts.

Small, flat, and easy to place

50 × 51 cm and 4 mm thick, roughly a large framed photograph, projecting almost nothing from the wall. It sits beside other things, in a hallway, between windows, above a desk, and goes up on double-sided tape in a couple of hours, outer pieces first.

One thing to know before ordering

The engraving is in French: region names, départements and towns all use their French forms. There is no English version.

Living with it

Dark surfaces show dust sooner than pale ones, and the fine département lines hold it. A soft dry brush clears them; a damp cloth smears. Keep it out of direct sun, which fades the dark regions unevenly and shows the difference between the sunlit and shaded halves more plainly than on the warm map.

France three ways

This is the flat version in cool tones. The Multicolor is the same map in warm woods; the relief map stacks each region so it stands off the wall. If the interest is wine, the wine maps of France divide the country by vineyard instead.

One honest limitation

A decorative object rather than a cartographic instrument. Coastlines are simplified and the smallest features are omitted.